1937, August 8 to 1938, August 8Dyess Hospital A small rural hospital with 24 beds and four bassinets 1937, JanuaryDyess Flood1937-1950 In 1937, the Cash family moved to Dyess, and took residence there as sharecrop cotton farmers. The young Johnny Cash, ( then in elementary school ), worked to clean and clear the banks of irrigation ditch number 40. Johnny Cash left Dyess in 1950, to join the U.S. Air Force. submitted by Marv Sauer 1936, April 27 Family Selection By Clark C. Tucker There are at present 457 families living on colony; 27 families have been approved for residence in the colony, but have not moved. These families will move within the next week. The last inspection visit was made in April 27, 1936, and no more visits are scheduled. All work has been completed in the field. The families that are on the Colony have been selected after very careful consideration. It is believed that every one of them will be successful. It has been the purpose of the selection division to picture the Colony just as it is, and tell of the tremendous amount of clearing and farm work to be done. A special effort was made to point out to them that the wonderful opportunities and possibilities offered those chosen, as residents are available only through their own efforts to obtain them. The government has made possible a chance for them to own a comfortable home, and to earn an honest living through cultivation of the fertile soil, but an explicit explanation of the methods used and "drawbacks" of cultivation has been presented each applicant. It has been the hope of the selective unit that each new family has come with an understanding of the adjustments to be made, and that each will be happy in its new home. Submitted by Everett HensenEmail1936, May 1 From the Colony Herald Hewn from the wilderness by the hands of men who believe the Arkansas farmer can build himself a more equitable agriculture economy, Dyess Colony in Mississippi County, grows to adolescence. In June, when crops are green and growing, Harry Hopkins. National WPA administrator, will come down to attend the dedication exercise and see for himself what the government has done for the farmers of this state. It all began in 1934. The late W. R. Dyess, state relief administrator and a plantation owner, gave much thought to the problems of farmers, their lack of fertile land, like of equipment, difficulties in marketing their products. So much poverty in a state as potentially rich as Arkansas seemed unreasonable to him. He conceived an idea. Since the fault was admittedly not the farmer, then it must have been his facilities. Much of Mississippi County forest land was controlled by drainage districts though tax defaults and was to be bought at very low prices. Mr. Dyess went to work. Purchases was made with funds obtained though a special grant from the FERA and within a short time 16,000 acres lay waiting for the axe and the plow. It was jungle grown up with underbrush and much of it was subject to overflow. But those 16,000 acres were a part of one of the world’s garden spots. Muscle, vision and expert planning were required to make this area productive, to fulfill the hopes of the hundreds of families who were to leave there homes and come to this land for a new start. Col. Lawrence Westbrook, now assistant national administrator and at that time relief administrator of Texas, had planed a model agriculture community similar to the French rural center with its village and surrounding farms. Mr. Dyess’ plan envisioned a larger and more expanded community, sought to distribute the population over a larger area and to provide educational and recreational facilities. In May 1934, constriction started on the project, then known as Colonization Project No. 1. A survey was made, material ordered and by the 18, 115 heavy logging mules were put into gear and clearing work began. In order to utilize the standing timber and lower the cost of building six ground-hog sawmills were installed. With these small units and one steam mill the land was cleared, and unskilled labor working at capacity stacking the piles seasoning lumber higher and higher. Three draglines were put to ditching and roadwork. Right-of-ways, one day an avenue of muck and the next a passable thoroughfare, caring labors to all parts of the area. The Tyronza river which bisects the area was ditched and deepened, laterals carried of water from low lands. >From 500 to 1,500 men were working. They lived in barracks at the tempera headquarters. But now that the first dent was made in the wilderness, attention was turned to the construction of a community center where stores and administrative offices were to go up. Sawed oak ties were utilized in the laying of five miles of track from Evadale Junction on the Fresco to the Colony. By early summer everything was ready for the construction of the first three houses and a corps of 25 carpenters went to work on planes drawn by architect Howard Eichenbaum. The first three homes, of three, four and five rooms each, served as models. Land allotment was on the basis of 10 acres to room or, in other words, small families were to live in small houses on small farms. Original planes called for outdoor sanitary toilets. This was changed and indoor lavatories were built with perfected septic tanks to prevent water contamination. With the wiring of the colony on July 30 construction moved into another stage and by early August four homes were complete and an additional crew of expert carpenters hired to expedite the program. It is interesting to note that each crew of seven men were required to lay three foundations in a day; each 10 man crew to construct the frame of a five room house in 16 hours; four men to shingle a house in six hours; each eight man crew to place the siding in six hours and six painters to paint the house in six hours. With 1,400 men employed between the middle of and August and September 15 the entire tract took on anew shape as evidenced by airplane photographs. The almost uncharted woodland was intersected by roads, its creeks and ditches spanned by wide bridges built of native lumber. Spotted by cottages in little plots of cleared land the forest gave way to man’s industry. The community center took the spotlight that fall. The large buildings were designed and staked out and pouring of concrete began. Grouped together in convenient proximity are administrative building, commissary, cafe and adjacent stores and post office, hospital, garage, shops, community building which now serves as a school and other facilities necessary to the life of a community. The railroad was finished in November. Over 52 miles of right-of-way had been cleared, 22 miles graded and five miles of ditching finished. Over 100 farm cottages and 16 residences were wired for electricity although available power was not sufficient to light more than the units in the center.

So much for construction: The building of Dyess Colony was the first consideration, but the matter of supervision, selection of families and education came next and occupied just as important a place in the scheme of development. With the moving in of W. H. Smith and his family, the first of the original 13 families, the colony entered still another phase. Families of good record who had been victims of the economic emergency, were considered eligible. They were given adequate land, comfort--- tide them over until paying crops could raised and sold. Health, industry and community welfare-these were vital to the band of colonist if their experiment was to survive. If they hadn’t co-operated wholeheartedly with the government that was giving them this chance perhaps they would not have survived. Today, we have a community that is not simple for the purpose of growing salable crops for the market but also a unit for the advancement of its component individuals, giving them a chance for a fuller and more rounded life. Educational facilities will be complete with the projected new high school. About 4,000 agriculturists will be united in one common objective-the making of a new and better day for the farmer and his children. Over 446 families are now installed in comfortable homes and the maximum will soon be reached, according to Colony Administrator Dudley. A few weeks ago a colonist, working near a brush pile on his plot, started a deer, just an indication of the frontier’s reluctant retreat before the advance of Dyess Colony, the government’s major experiment in agricultural education.

1936First Schools in Dyess Interviews of teachers and administration in 1936. 1936 Letter send to Everett Henson by Marry Life at Dyess Colony, A town and farming community built during the depression, A COMPLETE COMMUNITY WITH PEOPLE FROM MOST OF THE COUNTIES OF ARKANSAS. All with a good moral background, both man and wife in good health and able to clear their own land. All had to have a farming background. "AND YES ONE MORE THANG THEY HAD TO BE :POOR: 1934 - onMore history for Dyess. 1934 Dyess, Arkansas - a brand new town1934, May 22 The Arkansas Rehabilitation Corporation was formed in May 1934, for the purpose of conduction of the Rural Rehabilitation Program of the Emergency Relief Administration in Arkansas. Construction of Dyess Colony began May 22, 1934 as Colonization Project No. 1. On February 17, 1936, Dyess Colony, Incorporated was formed by officials of the Emergency Relief Administration. The Colony received cash grants from the Emergency Relief Administration amounting to $2,306,250.00. With this amount the Colony purchased approximately 16,000 Acres of land at a cost of $136,994.00, constructed 500 farm houses including out buildings. Built: 38 houses at the community Center Administration Building Administration Building Heating Plant Community Building Fire Station Warehouse No. 1,2 and 3 Hay Barn Coal Bin Mule Barn and Corral Store Building Shop and Cafe Building with 20 Tables 80 chairs 14 Counter Stools Cafe Storage and Rest Room Building Service Station Hospital 25 Bed and 4 Bassinets Garage and Blacksmith Shop Shoe Shop Laundry Feed Mill Cotton Plant Cotton Gin 4 Stand Seed House Gin Office and Scale House Cotton House Dryer House At a Coast of $192, 273.00 Bank

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